Childhood picture of Eleanor, with her brother, Richard.
Eleanor Swain
Daughter of the president of the
University, she created a state-w ide
sensation when she married a
Yankee general at the close of the
Civil War.
By HARRY Z. TUCKER
I STOOD in the Hall of History
of the North Carolina Historical
Commission in Raleigh, admir¬
ing the llimsy wedding gown in
the glass case before me. From
outside came the soft swish of
summer rain, and I looked up to
meet the steady eves of a lady.
"Do you like the dress?" she
asked, a friendly smile on her lips.
"Yes," I replied. “It is very
pretty."
"The wedding of the bride who
wore that dress horrified North
Carolina and injured the Univer¬
sity at Chapel Hill."
With the above information, and
a fleeting smile, she was gone. But
the incident remained with me. for
here was the neucleus of a story.
When word came to Chapel Hill
in April, 1865, that four-thousand
mounted soldiers were ready to
enter the village, the terrified
citizenry fled nelter-skelter to
secrete their most prized posses¬
sions. Family portraits were hid¬
den in the walls of the houses,
silver plate buried in the gardens,
horses led away to dense woodland
areas, and antique china buried
beneath the floors of the old man¬
sions.
Arrival of Invaders
The President of the University.
Dr. David L. Swain, sat cool and
collected in his tidy library, trying
to forget that the South had been
conquered, that the old regime was
a thing of the past. He assured
himself that all his valuables had
been carefully hidden and that he
had nothing to lose, if he met the
commanding officer on terms of
friendliness. But for once in his
life his reckoning was poor, for he
had forgotten to hide his beautiful
young daughter. Eleanor, the toast
of the town.
There came a low knocking at
the President’s door. A servant
visibly, agitated, announced Gen¬
eral Smith B. Atkins, in charge
о
the band of cavalry which had
taken possession of the town of
Chapel Hill. In all the handsome
trappings of his high position in the
Union Army, the general was cere¬
moniously bowed into the library
He had come to counsult Dr. Swain
concerning the quartering of the
troops in the small town.
In due time he was presentee
to the fair Eleanor, the belle
о
Chapel Hill, and the one valuable
thing the former Governor of
North Carolina had failed to hide.
One look at the beautiful daughter
and General Atkins was tied for
life. He wished only to sit and gaze
ceaselessly into those dark and
dreamy eyes. It was mutual love
at first sight.
In after years Eleanor described
the courtship as an affair that pro
ceeded gradually, but it is a matter
of history that it only took three
weeks for the ardent Yankee to
convince her that they should be
married at once. But the wagging
tongues of the villagers were in
full play. What they said about
the Northern invader who had th
nerve to ask a Southern lady for
her hand in marriage was plenty,
and had best be left untold.
Attitude of Indifference
It was soon evident in Chape
Hill that Eleanor Swain caret
nothing about what her friend?
were saying, but she was vastly
concerned with the problem oi
persuading her reluctant father tc
grant his consent and allow tht
marriage to be consummated. Sto
argued that the Civil War wa
over, the South was beaten; an
she pleaded with her parent t<
allow her to become the bride o:
General Smith B. Atkins.
Eleanor was only about twenty
years old, and she could ncvei
bring herself to realize the far
reaching results of her marriag»
to a foe who had not yet left th
barren and wasted land which h
had helped to conquer. She onlyi
knew that she was deeply in love
with the handsome young officer:
and she wanted to become his wifi
as soon as she could obtain tl^e con
sent of her father.
Governor Swain, howeve
understood the situation mucl
better. He knew that to give hi
approval of the marriage of hi»
pretty daughter to a "Damyankee'
officer was the last drop of bitter
ness in the cup of the people
о
Chapel Hill and other parts c
THE STATE. Auourr 30. 194
